Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 26

"The Christmas Hirelings" by M. E. Braddon

This sweet little novella is like the epitome of Victorian Christmas fiction: filled with the knowledge that life can be fleeting and people can be cruel... but they don't need to be.
An aging aristocrat, his good friend, and his niece are all set to spend a very boring Christmas together at the aristocrat's country manor.  Then his friend suggests they "hire" some children to liven up their festivities, and after some consideration, they decide to do exactly this.  The friend departs for a while...

Top Ten Tuesday: Getting Cozy (Nov 29)

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Cozy Reads."

I love cozy books, so it wasn't hard to come up with ten favorites... it was hard narrowing the list down to ten!  But here they are, with a few cozy attributes for each and the titles linked to my full reviews.
1. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery -- cottage, winter, fireside reading, cats, book lovers, nature lovers, small town, slow-burn romance
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen -- seaside, friendship, family ties, home...

"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

I remember reading this book when I was in my early teens and thinking it was absolutely fascinating.  I read it about the same time as Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, and the two of them made me a fan of tall ships.
The funny thing is, when I was reading this aloud to my kids this fall, I remembered almost none of it.  I thought it took place mostly aboard ship, but it was actually mostly about how Nathaniel Bowditch grew up self-educated and the struggles he went through to learn and un...

"Kidnapped" by Jan Burke

This was a nail-biter, and no mistake.  So many little threads of killings and kidnappings and disappearances and deaths, all woven together skillfully.
A young man goes to prison for killing his father and little sister.  His brother and mother are convinced he's innocent.  Fast-forward a few years, and new evidence crops up, old evidence is shown to be mismanaged and misidentified, and then a dead body linked to another kidnapping is found, and suddenly lots of crimes that seemed unrelated star...

"Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson

Hmm.  Hmm hmm hmm.  This was an unusual book, and no mistake.
The whole thing is a letter from an aging pastor with a deadly heart problem -- he's writing to his young son because he knows his son will have to grow up without getting to know him, and he wants to leave him with some understanding of who his father was.  So, there are no chapter breaks, just places where he stops writing for a while and then comes back.
It's a series of musings about this man's life, his views on the world, his fami...

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie

My favorite part of this book was figuring out that Hercule Poirot was in it before he was actually mentioned by name.
My least-favorite part of this book was figuring out who the killer was about two-thirds of the way through the book, and being right.  I really hate that.  I pretty much demand that the detective and the villain in a mystery book or show or movie should be smarter than I am.  If I figure things out before the big reveal, I feel cheated.  I don't try to figure them out -- I even ...

"The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish" by Karina Yan Glaser

This series continues to be a complete delight!  I probably start all my reviews for these books this way, but it's true.  I love this fictional family.
In The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish, the kids are trying to find a way to make their father's upcoming 40th birthday extra special.  They hit on the idea of recreating a road trip he was supposed to take with his own father after graduating from college, but which never happened because their grandfather died.
The only trouble is, their other grandpa...

Joining A Literary Christmas Challenge 2022

I'm joining the annual Literary Christmas Challenge hosted by In the Bookcase!  This year, I hope to read:All is Calm, All is Bright by Colleen CobleCatching Christmas by Terri BlackstockA Victorian Christmas by Catherine PalmerAnd I probably will read more Christmas-themed books too, since I have rather a large stash of them on my TBR shelves at the moment.  We shall see!  This is one of my favorite blogging events, and I try to participate every year, though I missed out last year for some unr...

Book Tour and Giveaway Wrap-Up

Congratulations to Anne Pinkava, who won the Fairy Tale prize package, and to Raquel Evans, who won the Old West prize package!  
I will contact both winners by email today, so be on the lookout for that, Anne and Raquel!
Thank you to everyone who made my book launch tour so much fun!  Today, we wrap things up with an interview by my best friend and editor, Deborah Koren.  If you need to catch up on the tour stops, here's a complete list, with links to the specific posts:
November 8: Live interview...

"My Rock and My Refuge" Giveaway and Book Tour

Today is the day! My Rock and My Refuge is now officially available.  You can buy it from Amazon here or from Barnes and Noble here, or you can buy an autographed paperback from me by filling out this form.

My Rock and My Refuge already has quite a few reviews on GoodReads, if you're curious what advance readers are saying about it.
Today also kicks off my book tour!  Here's the official schedule:
November 8: Live interview on Instagram with the Christian Mommy Writers Group at 2pm EST and live rea...